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Genevieve (album)
Genevieve is the fourth studio album by American actress and singer Lyla Rivers. It was released on May 13, 2016, jointly by Capitol and Columbia, respectively. Rivers claimed it to be her official return to the music industry after leaving it ten years ago prior to her last album release. The album featured Macklemore, Iggy Azalea and Rivers' The Revolution co-star, Blake Wright. The album received mainly positive reviews, most critics stating that it was a great way for a former artist to return to the business. Some critics believed that it was a fine record, but felt that Rivers hadn't shown her full (musically) potential in the album. Three singles were released to advertise the album; the song in honor of her mother, Genevieve (who the album was named for) was the first single to be released in February which was reviewed positively and remains to be the most favored track on the album. The track was later revealed, by Rivers', to be the lead single on her comeback album. The next track, "The Party Killer", was released in early March and was again met with positive feedback. The last single, "Old Baggy Blue Jeans" was released two weeks prior to the album release. Rivers promoted the song heavily on her social media accounts, claiming it to be one of the best singles on the record. It was met with mixed criticism, some heavily receiving the signals that she aimed it at a particular person. Rivers confirmed this to be true, and that it was her tragic rendition of the fallout of her friendship of Blake Rose Minchin, her former Disney co-star. Background and production In 2014, Rivers was involved in an exclusive interview for EW!, discussing The Revolution's fifth season. It was in this interview that Rivers expressed a great interest in returning to the music industry, confessing she had several journals filled with songs written by her. Music critics claimed that her filming schedule would most likely halt her plans. However, she proved the critics wrong in March 2015, when she announced via her Twitter, that she was going to begin recording tracks with brothers and music producers, Robert J. Hope and Jordan H. Hope. Over the remainder of the year, Rivers continued to post social media updates to show her musical progress. In late 2015, in another interview with EW!, Rivers confirmed that she had recorded several songs already and officially announced she was releasing a new album, which would be titled for her mother. She had originally planned to release the lead single in November 2015, but both Columbia and Capitol pushed the release date further onto February 2016 due to a scheduling mix-up. Rivers described the whole album to be "a dance-pop experience, with some psychedelic rock and pop-rock thrown in there as well". She wanted her fans to experience all the emotions she experienced when she was producing it. Producer and personal friend, Cassandra Willard, described the album as "a bold, fun and enigmatic experience... the best project I've worked on in years". Release and artwork On November 22, 2015, Rivers posted three pre-selected images onto her Instagram - it served as her 3000th post on the social media website - that she felt would most ultimately suit her upcoming album. The first image was a close-up over-the-shoulder pose, with Rivers wearing bold purple eye shadow and sporting a loose tank top, the background being a rich purple. The second image was a black and white shot of Rivers wearing a black polka-dot dress, looking down and in pain. The third and final image is a livelier, bubblegum pink close-up of Rivers wearing a light t-shirt and bright makeup. She captioned the three pictures as "Decisions, Decisions, Decisions. Which one for #GENEVIEVE?" Ultimately, Rivers went with the first option, using the remaining two images as single covers for "Genevieve" and "The Party Killer". genevieve-album-cover.jpg|The first of three images that Rivers posted on her Instagram genevieve-single-cover.jpg|The second image that Rivers posted on her Instagram The Party Killer single cover.jpg|The third image that Rivers posted on her Instagram Composition Music and lyrics Genevieve is primarily a pop album, but also incorporates essences of dance-pop and psychedelic rock. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon a week after the album was released, Fallon asked why it took her this long to return to the industry, to which she replied "it's been a hectic few years since I left Disney... I joined The Revolution pretty quickly and it took up a lot more of my life than I had anticipated." Songs and lyrical content The album opens with a rock song, "Glitter and Guns". The opening lines; "Pull the trigger/I know you have it in you" sets the album's tone, the song featuring a psychedelic tone and Rivers' voice having had an SFX echo added to it to give it an extra kick. "Old Baggy Blue Jeans" is a dance-pop song with some critics claiming that it caused them to begin dancing straight away. Rivers' voice appears to be raspy in some segments, but producer Jordan H. Hope claims that this was solely Rivers' decision as she felt it be the right direction for the song. "Vaguely Suspicious" is another rock song. Rivers used the same SFX echo as in the first song on the album but it sounds much more mellow and calming. The song "Sour Hour" is a dance/techno-pop hit which Rivers states that her life had been bitter prior to joining the cast of the Revolution. Genevieve is the first slow pop ballad which Lyla solely dedicated to her mother. She goes into great detail of the impact her mother's suicide had on herself and family members. "The Party Killer" is a pop-rock tale about a girl who tries her hardest to crash a party. Critics claim that it was relevant to Rivers' own childhood. The seventh track, "Slayer", featured Iggy Azaelea. Azalea provides a rap beat that goes in tone with Rivers' own pop voice. This was one of the few songs that were highly rated by critics. "Trepidation" and "Won't Win Without You" are the two other pop ballads featured on the album, where Rivers' details the first and only time she had been with a man ("Trepidation") and her first relationship with a woman. "This Stage Was Made For Two" featured Macklemore, with the rapper and singer both working together with the mid-tempo beat. Finally, "Apollo and Artemis" and "End of the Roaring Twenties" were in the style of dance-rock singles that showcased Lyla's voice pitch. Singles "Genevieve" was released on February 18, 2016. Rivers announced the track live on Sirius X FM with Jenna Mourey. She also announced that her first solo album would be titled for her mother, dedicating the album to her. The single was met with positive reviews. Singer-songwriter Christina Agueleria publically praised the track on her Instagram, stating that "she (Rivers) had obviously put her heart and soul into the lyrics". Critics praised Rivers for the raw nature of her vocals and claimed that if the rest of the tracks (on the album) were like that, then she would be a hit. The next night, Rivers performed the song live on James Corden's Late Late Late Show, in which she publically announced that the track was available for download. The song peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Top 100. A week after the single was released, Rivers had the music video uploaded onto her Vevo account, it scoring over 7.5 million views in one day. "The Party Killer" was released March 15, 2016. This time Rivers announced it via her own Instagram. The lyric video was released alongside the track, it being viewed over 8 million times within the first 72 hours of release. She performed the track live on Graham Norton's chat show on BBC America, in which she also confirmed the release date of the album itself. Critics enjoyed the wordplay throughout, and further praised Lyla's vocals, making sure to point out that she was capable of sliding into a lower singing voice quicker than some of the greats. "Old Baggy Jeans" was released April 29, 2016. The track was released at midnight with the lyric video gaining over 3.5 million views in the first 12 hours, making it the 7th most watched video on Youtube that day. The music video features a montage of Rivers' personal photos of her friendship with Blake Rose Minchin (of whom the track is about). Promotion Tour A week after the album's release, Rivers went on a short American tour when filming of The Revolution paused for a midseason break. She performed in ten states, in twenty different cities over the course of two months. The tour began on August 2, 2016 and finished on October 4, 2016. Rivers had five of the twenty shows recorded to be sold onto DVDs and digital downloads. Critical reception Genevieve received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, it received a rating of "73/100" which is considered "generally favorable reviews". This scoring was given after a total of 124 reviews. Taylor Arnott at AllMusic gave the album a scoring of 4/5, commenting "sheRivers has quite literally put her heart and soul into the album". Arnott also went into detail about Rivers' past Disney career, stating "we don't normally hear much from former Disney actors but this one is definitely making her voice heard... the different genres of rock, different styles of pop just shows you have to experience the world outside of Disney and acting itself''. Brianna Chang of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a 5/5, stating "best album of the year released thus far, Rivers' vocal techniques and all her different ranges make it hard to give it a bad rating." Jonah Quinn of PopMatters gave the album its lowest rating, a 7/10. "Although it's an excellent production," his blog quotes him saying, "I had to give it a low rating as most of the singles featured are psychedelic in theme. Miss Rivers needs to pinpoint her choice of genre - and she must do it quick". Commercial performances Track listing Credits adapted from liner notes of Genevieve Credits and personnel Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Certificates Release history Category:Lyla Rivers Category:Lyla Rivers career